Monday 25 April 2016

LO4: Mini-Pitch




Salk wrote these two slides.









Keenen, Sam and Salik are responsible for creating the treatment.




On this slide Shayi describes to the client what the gameplay and the visuals of the game will consist of, in order for them imagine how the game could look.


Keenen and Sam created the first slide for target audience together.



Salk created the second slide for target audience on his own.


Salk is responsible for this legal and ethical slide.


Keenen is responsible for this legal and ethical slide on the pitch.


Keenen and Salik combined to create the final legal and ethical slide.



Sam was in charge of the platform details slide.


Sam and Salik combined to create this slide.



Keenen was in charge of the visuals/layout section.








Sam wrote the plot synopsis and characters slide up.








LO4: Financial Plan



This is the financial plan that we created in order to find out how much it would cost to produce the NBA U game.

Sunday 24 April 2016

LO4: Competitors and comparrison



Currently there are only 3 competitors when it comes to who my team at NBA U are up against when coming to the sales of our product among our target audience. These companies are 2K, EA and BT Games Studio. This is due to the fact that these companies have a similar ideal to my groups game and have decided to produce their product on multiple platforms such as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, in order to reach a wider range within their target audience.









As you can see I have gathered information on what platforms my competitors are on and I have come to an understanding that BT Gaming Studio are not one of our primary opponents when it comes to competitors in terms of selling our product on the mobile platform. This is due to the fact that my team are only focusing on the consoles due to the fact that mobile games would be too challenging to produce a high quality and detailed game like NBA U on.

Using this information which I have found based on our competitors I have come to an understanding that the developers at 2K, who've developed a similar game to ours with the story/sports mode to the diegisis of our game NBA U. Although there is a big difference between out games, NBA U allows online and offline freeroam where the choices you make in the freeroam world could effect your NBA career either in a positive or negative light.

LO4: What I will produce for the Sumo Digital pitch


Here is a list of things I will be doing to play my part within the Sumo Digital pitch:


  • Part of Shayi's treatment
  • The visuals
  • Target audience
  • legal and ethical slide 2 and 3
  • layout
  • Plot synopsis and characters
  • competitors

Saturday 23 April 2016

LO4: Treatment


NBA U


Name or title of Game: NBA U


Length of playtime: Would roughly take 82 hours to complete if the player played every single game in the season and didn't miss a match through injury or other reasons. The player would have the option to skip through games if they wanted to simulate them, this would bring the playtime down to around 7-8 hours.


Genre or type of game: Sports game


Brief description / synopsis:
It is a decisions basketball game in which the decisions you make outside of the sport have an effect on your playing career.



Platform chosen: 

Target audience
Intended age of audience: The target audience is 12+ as this age are into basketball and sport games, also driving games which make it suitable for the genre as there is a free roam option in which you can drive around.
Other target details: The game has no violence or explicit content which therefore makes it for young teens like 12 year olds for example









Game style: Decisions/sport style game in which your decisions can affect your teams performance and moral.


 

Resources required


                  Human: 4 humans


                  Equipment : Computer, software (auto desk maya)


                  Location: UTC Sheffield 

                  Production time : 18 Months

                  Additional specific Resources:



Additional information



Content of game (items, features and articles):  The game will include things like unlockable accessories e.g. basketball shoes, also customisable characters.





Examples of challenges and themes:
Some of the challenges will of course be the decisions you face and have to decide on throughout the game 




Styles of comparable games: The style of  NBA 2K15 is different to my game  as it is not a decisions based game and therefore only has sports features.






Profits/Costs

Our game will cost £42,391,046.82 to produce for the next-gen consoles, PS4 and Xbox One. This includes the actors costs, developers cost, the engine and licensing. We plan to sell 5,000,000 units of our game at a price of £39.99 each, making or overall revenue stand at £10,928,953.18. 

Thursday 21 April 2016

LO4: NBA U: Synopsis


NBA U is set in the United States of America based upon the theme of the NBA. In this game you will create your own custom character, which you will help grow throughout the league into reaching the goal of becoming the NBA championship winner. Within this game you will encounter various challenges and options you will have to select from in order to reach your goal in gaining both team and fan support from the characters world.

This game will begin during the high school basketball year, throughout this year your player will have to prove himself good enough to be selected for one of the college basketball leagues or go straight to the NBA depending on how skilled they are on the court. Once your player reaches the stage of college basketball they will be entered within the NBA draft, this determains the team your player will join as his first team during his NBA career.

LO4: Task List



a) Treatment or proposal for the final game. - Shayi
b) Competent production schedule for the final game. - Sam
c) Gameplay with associated visuals. - Keenen
d) Target audience - mood-board, description, imaginary entity. - Salik
e) Relevant legal and/or ethical issues - PEGI rating, copyright, music etc. - Sam
f) Platform details and requirements - justification for selection. - Salik
g) Examples of levels - visuals and layouts. (title screen,  characters). - Keenen + Sam
h) Plot synopsis and characters. - Keenen
i) Financial breakdown of development costs. - Shayi

LO4: My Responsibilities




  • The game idea me and my group are working on are a optional NBA game hat allows the user to fully interact with the life of their own custom character.

  • My role in the team is to take charge of the narrative of the game, this means I will be creating the various options that will be placed in front of the character.

  • I will be making the overall narrative of the game which will sometimes change depending on the options you pick.

Wednesday 20 April 2016

LO3: Batman Arkham Knight Review



Batman Arkham Knight is a Rocksteady Studios game, published by Warner Bros. This is the newest and the last game of the Batman Arkham franchise, rated at pegi 18 for age certification. This game allows the players to have the most realistic and closest feel to being the batman which any game has ever offered the players before. This game gives the players a third person perspective on being the batman and is a continuation of the Arkham franchise.

The general diegesis of this game is set in dystopian Gotham City that has recently been overrun by criminals and mental patients from the asylum, but the biggest threat is Scarecrow during this game. He has set in motion a diabolical plan to use a device know as the cloudburst to spread his fear toxin within the whole of Gotham, infecting everyone within the radius. Batman is given one night so solve and resolve this problem in order to save Gotham, whilst battling his own demons.

I personally believe that this general diegesis is a fantastic way to continue the 'Batman Arkham' series after following the death of the Joker in 'Arkham City'. I personally believe that this game allowed the player to connect with the verisimilitude environment of dystopian Gotham which made the game a lot more interesting, this could also be due to the open world features, which allowed you to roam around Gotham looking for different problems and missions to solve and complete.

The gameplay of Gotham Knight is a lot more smoother than the pervious games, this literarily makes you feel like the batman himself because your movements are so fluent and not disturbed by any in  game glitches or bugs. I also enjoy the new glide feature that has been incorporated within this game, it allows the player to glide a lot longer and cover a greater distance whilst gliding as if you were literally flying, where as if you compare the glide system to the pervious games this is a huge step up. I also like the new weapon selection system, this is a easier means of selecting weapons although I think it is quite slow if you were to use it within a combat mission, this is because most the combat scenes require you to be fast and physical, but this new weapons selection screen slows down the momentum within the game.

Also another new feature that has never been seen before with the Arkham franchise is the new Batmobile feature, this allows the players to use Batman's famous Batmobile. What is unique about this car is that it can transform from a car to a tank just by holding the second left trigger button, this increase Batmans fire power whilst he is in tank combat.

This is also the first Arkham game that allows the users to play using 'Dual Play' this is used as a means of support during certain combat scenes, allowing the players to switch between their favourite characters within the Bat Family. This can be used as a combination finisher or as a personal combat preference when fighting. Also a new feature which has been incorporated within the Arkham saga is the Fear Takedown', this is a new mode where Batman can move quickly almost like a bat swooping down to take out his prey within combat scenes without allowing the other AI characters any time to react to the 'Fear Takedown' feature. Along side the new environmental combat feature I personally believe that the combat features of the 'Batman Arkham Knight' game have been improved beyond proportion, this environmental feature allows Batman to use the environment and his surroundings to his advantage, meaning he can throw crates and slam enemies into walls.

I personally believe that when producing this game the developers at Rocksteady had to take into careful consideration what kind of tools and gadgets that Batman would use in combat and in technological situations. Due to this they took into consideration that the character Bruce Wayne is a billionaire, so he would be able to purchase top of the notch equipment within the diegesis of the world.

I believe that next generation consoles were the best means of playing this game, the reason why I believe this is because the processing speed of both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are really high, meaning they would be able to process at a very high speed all the new features the batman game has to offer without slowing down. Although the frame rate might drop from time to time, I personally believe that this isn't really much of a problem within this game.

I personally believe that 'Batman Arkham Knight' Is one of the best in the franchise and I would gladly recommend it to other people that are interested in purchasing this came from the Arkham series, because in comparison to 'Arkham Origins' this game wasn't a disappointment to the series at all.

Monday 18 April 2016

LO3: Ideas




  •  I believe that the best possible hardware for my elected game would be a console, this is due to the fact that there is going to be quite a lot of storage the game itself would take up due to it being quite a large game. I also believe that this platform is suitable for my game because it would go well with the game mechanics such as the features used when playing in basketball games.

  • My target audience for my game will be preferably aimed at people around the ages of 12 and up that are interested in basketball and games that allow you to decide your own options.

  • This game would fit into the Sports RPG genre, this is based on the fact that it considered a sports game by having your custom character play the NBA season but throughout the season you will occur various amounts of options that could lead your career uphill or take it downhill.


  • In terms of the competition for market shares there are only 2 competitors that specialise in the same department as my chosen game, these games are EA NBA Live , and NBA 2K. these are the two leading franchises in terms of this style of baseball gaming.

LO3: Draft Concept





  • Idea- I have decided to produce an RPG Sports game that allows the player to follow/ decide the story of their own created player
  • Draft 1- A RPG Sport game that gives players the life f their an custom character to control, either allowing them to succeed to reach the levels in terms of making it to the NBA. Your characters story choices will effect their personal life within the community.

LO2: Candy Crush Saga



Candy Crush Saga

Candy Crush Saga is a match-three puzzle game, this means you must match up the patters or colours with their match in order to pass the level.
Candy Crush Saga is a brand new and more colourful means of meeting the genre in comparison to other titles by using various types of candy through each level.

The overall narrative of Candy Crush Saga is to use the candy to break the jelly in order to complete the mission, the less moves you use the higher your chances of gaining stars.

Candy Crush Saga was developed in 2011 by King. The game itself took a new look into the match-three puzzle side of the gaming industry by changing from the original jewel style. Gameplay has been enhanced so much that the overall feel of the game is smooth and easy to use in comparison to the older versions of this genres games.

The challenges presented in Candy Crush Saga range from having a limited amount of moves, having to crack jelly’s down and finding ingredients. This high level type helps engage the audience by giving them a hard challenge that gives the problems that they have to figure out getting around mentally, this is quite a strategic game in general.
I believe that the key element that made this game successful was due to the fact that you could check you progress compared to your friends and try and beat them by passing their levels.

The target audience for Candy Crush Saga is all ages; this is because it is quite a diverse game in terms of attracting it target audience.  In comparison to other games on this genre Candy Crush Saga reaches out to its target audience the most because it is quite an appealing game in terms of its overall look, it almost draws people in instantaneously.